Further news on Marantha's books.

Amazon was not able to help. Impossible Love, Homeward Bound, and Irony will be incorporated into a memorial anthology instead along with two other anthologies she had been working on and rereleased.

Selkies' Skins Chapter 28 part one (Rock that Drowns)

The webnovel version of Selkies' Skins has updated. In the first part of chapter 28 we return to Etain, finally reach The Rock, and our selkies' close ties produce some problems...or perhaps it is this closeness that proves to prevent something worse...

Problems regarding Marantha's books already.

We are currently experiencing difficulties regarding Marantha's books. When writing to Amazon about how to transfer the books from her personal author account to the main publishing account to be with the others (I cannot access her author account, which was set up because she wanted to monitor her Amazon sales personally) this is the reply that I received.

Hello Teresa,

I'm glad to hear of your interest in updating information about Jan Parupia on her books.

We realize friends, relatives, and agents would like to act on an author's behalf, but currently only Author's or their publishers can update this information on the book pages.

If you'd like to add more data about an author on her books (including Author Pages), you can work with the StarDragon Publishing. Publishers and publishing service providers can update information for an Author Page through Vendor Central (https://vendorcentral.amazon.com).

That did not help one bit. I have replied and will keep things updated. If they can't make it simple then I will have to have the pulled taken down and then re-issue them through the main account.

Musings on 3 series, audience, and driving force

I'm thinking tomorrow may be a good day to go over Dragon Shaman 3's chapter outline in between other projects (I often will go between several a day). I don't have writer's block, but there is some increased pressure from those interested in BlowingWind's adventures. If I have that set then when it is time to work on that manuscript it will go swifter.

I also very desperately need to sit down with the book projects that are accepted already, double check the prioritization, and adjust work schedules to take into account upcoming university classes. Selkies' Skins having to split the first book into two books changes the work order significantly.

It is a very good thing that BlowingWind, Kirsty, Ryu, and David get along in the shared mental space (and there have not been any disagreements that Amehana has had to intervene with). Maybe one of these days I'll take some fun time and do up a sketch of 'Wind and Kirsty's arm wrestling bouts. Listening to David and Ryu discuss things during this time [even though David is my mate's (my version of David is slightly different from his version due to the standpoints we think from, and for later stories he is more involved in the creation of he will be labeled co-author if he'll let me) it is entertaining how characters all take on lives of their own outside of their stories and/or RPs]. Although the story starts at a very young age (just entering mid middle school and will go through the end of high school) in some ways it will be more adult since Kirsty herself is an interesting mix of 'adult too early' and 'kid.'

Every author has a specific audience that they write for. I have heard it said that it works best to choose one specific person and write to that person to help keep focus. Selkies' Skins is for my mate (and he's the one that gave me the 'spark' in the first place by giving me a reason to use the selkie I'd had forming in my mind). The Dragon Shaman books started out as for myself. BlowingWind came of life experiences that I had in being a child trying to take back the various cultures that my heritage springs from physically and spiritually. But it also came because of a series I had started before that (as well as other factors). They spring from the end of high school to early college 'energy.'

The Shadow Chronicles still has the first book unfinished as follows BlowingWind's friend (Willow Sanchez/Angelina) from Big Valley. When returned to it will tell the story of awakening to the magical and spiritual world in a very different way than that taken by BlowingWind (born to it) and Kirsty (also born to it). Each of these characters can be said to be an aspect of myself in some ways–some which I'm not fully comfortable speaking of in public since all three lines stem from psychological processes I have gone through at points in my life–but also of you, the reader. The stories that will be in that series have their seeds in a time where my stories were meant for my childhood friends...and we were a very tight bunch. Those spring from my middle school and high school years from roughly 1991 to 1998.

If you are an author, who do you write for? What is your core narrative? Does it change, perhaps changing as you do? Do you feel your own personal psychology has any bearing on how you write?

The passing of Jan Parupia AKA Marantha D Jenelle

I have already made this announcement in other places, but it must be made here as well. My friend and one of my authors, Jan Parupia AKA Marantha Dreamweaver Jenelle is now gone. She passed October 8th of 2013, although I do not know what of. The last I had talked to her, she stated that the city water was poisoning her. If you live in Gladewater, TX it might behoove you to have water filters. She had numerous other health problems that I am aware of, so it is my thoughts that it was most likely a combination of all of them.

Marantha was a prolific author and artist, and loved to chat. She loved her service animals during the time that she had each of them and greatly loved her grandchild despite not being able to see her. This I know was her greatest regret. It is not the regrets that define a person though. It is their accomplishments. Despite being bi-polar she harnessed that and used it as fuel for her creativity. I will miss her long chats.

Among her works are "The Partner," "Homeward Bound," "Irony," and her in progress work "The Ihmayran Chronicles Trilogy." I do have the latest progress that she had uploaded to her file storage, so it is in the work lineup to give the final editing pass. She wanted it published even if it was after her death, and out there for her granddaughter...so I plan to honor that.

None of this feels real to me. I expect the phone to ring and have Jan's voice come out asking how I am and eagerly launching into reading to me from the latest section she'd worked on, or asking how the kids are doing. She's not going to get to meet Faith face-to-face, or give me the "pixie hugs" (because I'm tiny and breakable) that we had looked forward to.

You will be missed Jan, but I'll make sure that your memory goes on.

Obituaries: http://ht.ly/pXXHT
http://www.croleyfhgwater.net/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=2276139&fh_id=12701

Although the second one states that she was a member of the North Loop Church of Christ, she considered herself VEHEMENTLY Pagan...as anyone that talked to her for long often found out.

Confronting the Demon Book Blast

The gates to hell are thrown wide when Alloran is betrayed by his best friend, Ladanyon, and framed for forbidden magic. He is hunted by the guards and the wizards both, tormented by the gruesome murder of his friends and loved ones, and crippled by fear for the living.

Now Alloran must face his demons, or damn the woman he loves.

Also featuring bonus short story 'A Magical Melody'

Genre – High Fantasy (17+)

Length – 110 pages

Published – September 24th

October 12th Indie-Vengeance Day Special! 

“Ballintyne gives wonderful descriptions and I found myself becoming lost in the magic of her words in a picturesque world with every turned page”  Bella Doerres

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“With imagination and detail that paints a full scene for the mind’s eye, Ciara takes us on a short but exciting journey into a world of magic, love and demons from hell.“ Miranda Wood of DustyKatt’s Stuff Reviews

“I actually enjoyed a good fantasy novel that didn’t take days and days to read, but still offered the opportunity to get caught up in its world and story.” - Tracy Riva Global eBook Awards Judge

~Amazon Kindle~ US $2.99 99¢ | UK £1.93 £0.77

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Alloran huddled in the shadows of the alley mouth across from the west gate, watching the guards search every man and woman leaving the city of Ehsan. He sweltered within the confines of his light dust cloak. The hood concealed his face, and a few days worth of stubble blurred the shape of his jaw. Anything to make him that much harder to recognise. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hide his indigo wizard eyes from another wizard or a sorceress, though a spell concealed their colour from normal vision.

A queue of backed-up traffic wound out of sight along the Avenue of Falling Stars. Travelers, merchants, and farmers waited with resigned patience.

Seven hells, after three months, the delays were normal. Surely, they’d give up soon.

Will they? For such a heinous crime….

It was not a thought he liked to dwell on. He slouched to hide his unusual height, and squinted at the mailed guards. They represented a minor inconvenience. The quartet of three wizards and one sorceress, though, were entirely different. There’d be no escaping their notice, even though the soldiers might be fooled. Almost involuntarily, his gaze flicked to the castle–not the king’s castle in the central district but the wizards’. Perched atop the mountain overshadowing the city, its turrets clawed the sky. Home, once. Now he hid from it like a beetle scuttling away from the sun. Only enough luck to fill the seven celestial levels kept him safe.

The wizards stood as the guards inspected each traveler and allowed passage. One, in linen shirt and leather pants with a sword on his hip, spoke companionably to the guard nearest him. The silk-swathed sorceress gazed down the street towards Alloran, or perhaps past him, with eyes that were yellow or purple, the mark of a woman of power. Easing back into the shadows slowly enough to avoid attracting attention, he headed to the square where Dek and the unfinished statue would be waiting.

A peaceful lassitude crept over Alloran at the thought of the statue. Three months ago, the notion of hacking a statue out of a lump of rock would have been distasteful, to say the least. Now, the act of creation gave him a refuge that he couldn’t find anywhere else.

Stripping off the cloak, he tramped through the back alleys, his boots squelching through something he didn’t care to examine too closely. Summer heat left the narrow streets ripe with the stench of rotting garbage. The muck would take weeks to clean from his boots, assuming he wouldn't have to traipse through the same decomposing food tomorrow. But he knew better.

He heaved a sigh for the soft leather half-boots he’d favoured in another life. Of course, they’d be ruined even faster than the heavy work boots. Oh for a clean street.

In the past, he’d waded knee-deep through any kind of muck as long as an answer lay on the other side. Two lives ago, that had been. Now, he did it in the hope of prolonging his pathetic existence one more day.

A tangled pile of crates blocked most of the alley. When he squeezed between the stack and the alley wall, the splintered wood scratched the stiff canvas of his smock and snagged his stonemason’s mallet. It was impossible to avoid the rubbish piled between wall and crates, and he wrinkled his nose at the stench.

If only he could take the main streets, kept clean by an army of royal sweepers, but they’d be watching for him there and at the gates. No one at the citadel would expect to find him in this stinking back alley. No, not him. Not the man of silks and velvets.

As he slipped through the narrowest point, the crates shifted, allowing him a glimpse into the middle of the pile. An eye stared back at him. A fixed and glazed eye.

.

Ciara Ballintyne was born in 1981 in Sydney, Australia, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, one masochistic cat, and one cat with a god complex.

She holds degrees in law and accounting, and has been a practising financial services lawyer since 2004. She is both an idealist and a cynic.

She started reading epic fantasy at the age of nine, when she kidnapped Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings from her father. Another two years passed before she began her first attempts at the craft of writing. Confronting the Demon is her debut book.

She enjoys horse-riding, and speculation about taking over the world. If she could choose to be anything it would be a dragon, but instead she shares more in common with Dr. Gregory House of House. M.D.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

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 The book tour for “CONFRONTING THE DEMON” By: Ciara Ballintyne is now accepting tour hosts.

The Book tour will take place on Monday through Friday. 12/2/2013 - 12/13/2013. 

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Why the blog has been quiet

I've been quite busy and not had much in the way of pre-scheduled posts. I have also been horrible at remembering to post over here as to when new content has gone live for the Selkies' Skins webnovel. The manuscript is currently having chapters 37 and 38 worked on. I'm still deciding on whether I should split what was originally going to be book one of the series into two books, dividing book one into the part where she meets the requirements of her 'land water' trials (which does by extension win her into inland seas as well, though not specifically covered) and then the new second book covering her 'sea trials' which grant her the skin. The other adventures covering David's help toward the family, that Greenpeace involvement idea that's been knocking around my head, and so on afterward would then move back into books three, four, and so forth if I divide the series this way.

I'm leery of getting back too much to BlowingWind's family story until I at least get this first book for Selkies' Skins finished. The more I write of it, the more I see that BlowingWind and Kirsty will cross paths in their respective series despite my initial reluctance to have the two parallel experiences in the spiritual/magical/mundane realms have bearing on each other.

I am also writing a sci-fi/fantasy short for Greymouse Publishing for their current anthology project "A World of Worlds." The other authors working on the collection are doing such a great array of "Other World" fiction that it is really interesting seeing what our common prompt is bringing up. I'm really enjoying the project. My contribution revolves around an interdimensional stardragon (not star dragon here) and her reaction to a colony ship enroute to finding safe haven after the death of their last planet generations ago. It is interesting figuring out how I'm going to make her reaction and decision fit into the 6,000 word max.

Much of the time, however, has been spent in getting the apartment ready to have the floors redone. I rather like our carpet out in the living room and bedrooms. Sadly the current word is that the new owners intend to have the whole done in vinyl tile. Looks like the kids and I will have to wear socks in the house if we don't want 'burny feet.' No idea when this is to be done. It could be that they start today or next week. I just want it over so that we can unpack again and productivity can get back to normal for the kids and I. That would also mean that I could get back to reading "The Ihmayran Chronicles" so that I can give Marantha my input on how the story has grown.

School also starts for me again in November, and I'm getting very nervous about it since this also means that the end of my degree program is coming closer. It took a month longer than I anticipated to get the funding issue straight, so it made me very glad that I started the enrollment and aid application early.